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It might seem condescending to write this now, but I was impressed by their set up and hope they do well in the Premiership.

For better or worse, it seems that Rodgers is looking to entertain and actually play football in the Premiership (and for the first twenty minutes, before our midfield stopped playing on top of each other, they were on top of us). It was impressive that they weren't all about cheap fouls and long ball.

Aguestien's distribution in the holding role was impressive, the pace of Dyer/Sinclair/Routledge will catch a lot of teams out and, if a keeper can ever impress when conceding four, Vorm did in that match.

Threads on here usually slate teams for the way they set up - in this case, whether they were naive or not, I thought I'd give credit where it's due.

I agree wholeheartedly.

I was impressed that they never went dirty or started lumping it when they were getting beaten. They will win a lot of fans this season, just not sure they have the personnel to back that up with points.

After one game would trade them for Wigan right now.

They need a bit of prem quality amongst them though. Otherwise it will take them 3 months to get up to speed.

dazby wrote:They need a bit of prem quality amongst them though. Otherwise it will take them 3 months to get up to speed.

No denying that. They've already spent 10 million or so (Graham, Lita, Routledge, Vorm) - depends whether they really want to go for it this season or whether they want to keep themselves in a good position for whatever happens next.

It's all good and fun for the neutral fan, and Swansea fan will surely be enjoying their cameo appearance in the prem (see Blackpool and Burnley).

Sadly, I think they will get utterly crushed. Those weaker teams in this league set up very physically and will out-muscle this very small, weak team.

Shame really as I much prefer this sort of side to the horrible ones like Wigan and Stoke, who are completely anti-football. Add Everton to that, their style of play is vile.

They played excellent football & for a while were a class above us in possession. Then we got up to PL speed & the difference was apparent. They were very quick on the break though & that will probably determine their fate. If they can get the goals when they get in those positions they may survive but otherwise they need a plan B. Most teams cause us more problems at set pieces but Swans seemed to be pure football & nothing else. That could be their downfall.

Blackpool last season were Swansea on steroids.
They looked dangerous down their right (I think it was Dyer) and they will probably catch a few teams out this season.

Blackpool mark 2. Nice football but wide open at the back and they play too much football in their own final third. Will win friends and concede bucket loads of goals along the way.

If they set themselves up at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford like they did last night, they will get similar tonkings.

Goaters 103 wrote:

Blackpool mark 2.

Nice football but wide open at the back and they play too much football in their own final third. Will win friends and concede bucket loads of goals along the way.

If they set themselves up at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford like they did last night, they will get similar tonkings.

Unfortunately true. They played some nice football in the 1st half but I don't think they will survive and will do a Blackpool.

Ted Hughes wrote:They played excellent football & for a while were a class above us in possession. Then we got up to PL speed & the difference was apparent. They were very quick on the break though & that will probably determine their fate. If they can get the goals when they get in those positions they may survive but otherwise they need a plan B. Most teams cause us more problems at set pieces but Swans seemed to be pure football & nothing else. That could be their downfall.

I disagree about them being a class above us in possession Ted. At the beginning of the match they were respecting possession and were focussing on keeping the ball. That much is true. However, they were unable to penetrate our defence so whilst they had the ball they did very very little with it. By half time they probably shaded the possession stat but were unable to create chances with it.
When we had the ball we were more direct purely because we were able to unlock them with fewer passes. Off memory I think it was 10 shots to 2 at half time.

We got better when Bob remembered to put an attack on the pitch.
Swansea were a bit toothless, but then again lots of teams struggle to break us down.
I hope that they improve, now that they have bent over for us.

The way Silva breezed unchallenged from mid way in our half to the edge of their box for our first is not a good sign for them. They'll score goals and play some nice stuff but they will get some real hidings.

dazby wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:They played excellent football & for a while were a class above us in possession. Then we got up to PL speed & the difference was apparent. They were very quick on the break though & that will probably determine their fate. If they can get the goals when they get in those positions they may survive but otherwise they need a plan B. Most teams cause us more problems at set pieces but Swans seemed to be pure football & nothing else. That could be their downfall.

I disagree about them being a class above us in possession Ted. At the beginning of the match they were respecting possession and were focussing on keeping the ball. That much is true. However, they were unable to penetrate our defence so whilst they had the ball they did very very little with it. By half time they probably shaded the possession stat but were unable to create chances with it.
When we had the ball we were more direct purely because we were able to unlock them with fewer passes. Off memory I think it was 10 shots to 2 at half time.

Agreed.Although they had more possession they didn't do anything with it.I can't even remember when they got into our penalty area. For some reason ,maybe just pacing ourselves, we sort of let them move the ball around without too much pressing.The difference was when we had possession we did do something with it and but for their keeper and the bar could easily have been 2up at half time.

Pointless having possession if you don't even threaten with it and they didn't. The 2nd half shows just what is in store for them if they make mistakes in defence.

Good point Doug, Hart had maybe one or two saves to make in the game and that was about it.

Fair play to their fans though who were a right noisy bunch, and had a piss funny song about Sinclair and Rosie Webster too.

While it's true to say they had moments of being pleasing on the eye, the brutal truth is that had we scored an early(ish) goal last night we might have ended up with a near cricket score.

Swansea are the worst team in English top flight in a long long time. They will be absolutely trashed in this division. I can't see how they will score any goals or protect their own goal.

I don't think swansea were all that bad, sure it was 4-0 and could of been more but they will not have to verse teams the quality of us every week. They are way better than that derby side that came up in 2007 and the sunderland team that managed to get about 19 points or less in a whole season

They played some prissy football which got them nowhere, were far to small and have no strikers. I will wait to see what they are like at home before saying they will get less points than Derby but after last nights showing I dont see them getting a single point away from home this season.

On another note, I thought the fans were fantastic but it isn't enough in the big bad world which is premier league football.

I might be eating my words come the end of the season but they haven't got anywhere near enough depth or quality to go the whole season playing like they did last night even if they have, they haven't got anywhere near enough attacking prowess to finish of the wigans of this league, defensively, most teams will be too strong for them